Zolio.com: An Innovative Resume Tool

 Zolio.com, which launched just earlier this month, offers nascent members of the job market the ability to present themselves in a concise, web-friendly presentation.

Imagine: The Perfect College Graduate. They had a billion internships, pioneered a handful of successful organizations, and work a triple-major 4.0. 

They're applying for jobs across the country, e-mailing out their PDF formatted resume far and wide: Samples of work and references upon request printed across the bottom of the document. Employees call, wanting examples of work and letters of recommendation. After gathering the portfolio of newspaper clips, cool Photoshop projects, press releases and video packages there's a big mess. They're all in different formats in a jumbled gathering of links: .pdfs, .psds, .exls, and more. The disarrayed cluster of file extensions spells imminent disaster for these beloved future bosses to not only open up the document and have incorrect layouts, but maybe not even have the tools to open the document at all.

What's the solution? It's called Zolio. Foudned in 2007, Zolio.com offers a free multimedia-incorporated resume building service. "The goal is to create one streamlined resume," Zolio co-founder Andria Trivisonno said.

Check out a sample Zolio Here

Zolio offers a tool that will assist the career-seeking student in constructing their resume online, with a visual of what they are creating in real-time.

Nearly every college student has a Facebook account. But when it comes to an online presence, Facebook may be slightly too casual. Rarely does the typical boss consider championing a keg stand "special skills."

Alternatively LinkedIn, the leading social networking site for professionals may be too advanced for the typical college kid.

"Many college students do not yet have a professional network to make LinkedIn effective, and Facebook is not professional." Trivisonno said. "Zolio offers a place to bridge the gap between Facebook and LinkedIn."

So this service, it's great, but how does the aspiring post-graduate get their Zolio out to employers?

Zolio offers a general listing available for employers to peruse. When checking out the general listing, employers must request contact information from the owner of the resume. Also available, users can give out a private link, which provides their contact info.

According to Trivisonno, over 80% of recruiters are doing detective work to screen potential employees. With a staggering statistic like that, it's important for students to monitor their online presence.

Keeping in mind that the goal of the resume is to portray the candidate as effectively as possible, "We spoke with employers, recruiting firms to create what they want. They have been very receptive," Trivisonna said. From the employer's perspective, Zolio is an efficient tool, reducing time previously spent hunting down letters of reference and body of work.

Regardless of status -- 4.0 triple major senior or soul-searching sophomore, building the resume is crucial. Upload those published newspaper articles, art projects, and sonnets composed. Create a brief description of the volunteer work done over Thanksgiving break. The resume is a dynamic portrait of experience and skills acquired, a Zolio is your succinct portrait online.